Ministerial reshuffle imminent in Kashmir

Jammu, Jan 13: The long-awaited reshuffle of the Omar Abdullah ministry is imminent. Both the ruling National Conference and the Congress have started internal exercises to this end.

According to Congress sources, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and state Congress chief Saif-ud-Din Soz have buried their differences for now to get their party’s quota of ministerial vacancies filled.

They have submitted a list of probable ministers to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

National Conference ministers and leaders have been asked to submit their resignations to the chief minister to enable him to undertake necessary changes, a source close to Omar Abdullah told IANS Sunday.

The coalition government was sworn in Jan 5, 2009. Six months later, Abdullah expanded his cabinet, taking the number up from the original 10 to 24. The Congress has not filled one of its vacancies.

Sources in both parties said 2013 was a critical year as assembly elections were due in the state in 2014. This has made the reschuffle even more necessary.